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This is a real AskTax answer, in the exact format you get in the product — for a self-employed consultant with a single-member LLC.

Can I write off a home office?

Tax year 2025Facts dependent

Yes — for 2025 you can deduct a home office if a specific part of your home is used exclusively and regularly for your consulting business and it is your principal place of business. Personal living expenses are normally not deductible, so this is an exception with tests you have to meet.

Why

As a self-employed single-member LLC owner, your business is a trade or business, so the business-use-of-home exception can apply to you.§ 280A(c)(1)
The exception works by carving a qualifying part of your home out of the general rule that expenses of a residence are not deductible.§ 280A(a)§ 280A(c)(1)

Conditions

The space must be used only for the business — a den the family also uses for recreation does not qualify.IRS Pub. 587
Use must be regular, not occasional or incidental.IRS Pub. 587
It must be your principal place of business, which includes a space used for administrative or management work when you have no other fixed location for it.§ 280A(c)(1)
The deduction cannot exceed the income from the business use; anything disallowed carries forward to the next year.§ 280A(c)(5)

What To Keep

A measurement or floor plan showing the square footage of the office and of the home.IRS Pub. 587
Evidence of exclusive and regular use: photos, a calendar of client work done there, and where your other work happens.IRS Pub. 587 IRS Pub. 587
If you use actual expenses instead of the simplified method: rent or mortgage interest, utilities, insurance and repair records.

Tax Impact

The simplified method allows $5 per square foot up to 300 square feet, but the deduction depends on the size of your office, which you have not given.

Square footage of the office (simplified method)
Actual home expenses and the office's share of the home (actual-expense method)
Gross income from the business use of the home

What Could Change This Answer

If any personal use of the space happens, the exclusive-use test fails.
If you also work from a client's office or a rented desk, whether your home is the principal place of business needs a closer look.
If the business has little income this year, the deduction is capped and the rest carries forward.

Sources

126 U.S.C. § 280A(c)(1)
Statute (Internal Revenue Code)
Business use of home — exclusive and regular use exception; principal place of business
“Subsection (a) shall not apply to any item to the extent such item is allocable to a portion of the dwelling unit which is exclusively used on a regular basis— (A) as the principal”
Sets the exclusive-and-regular-use test and defines principal place of business.
Official source ↗
226 U.S.C. § 280A(a)
Statute (Internal Revenue Code)
Business use of home — general rule of disallowance
“no deduction otherwise allowable under this chapter shall be allowed with respect to the use of a dwelling unit which is used”
The general rule the home-office deduction is an exception to.
Official source ↗
3IRS Pub. 587 (2025), “Exclusive Use”
IRS guidance (explanatory, not law)
Home office — exclusive use test
“To qualify under the exclusive use test, you must use a specific area of your home only for your trade or business. The area used for business can be a”
Explains what exclusive use means, with the IRS's own example.
Official source ↗
4IRS Pub. 587 (2025), “Regular Use” and “Trade or Business Use”
IRS guidance (explanatory, not law)
Home office — regular use and trade-or-business use tests
“To qualify under the regular use test, you must use a specific area of your home for business on a regular basis. Incidental or”
Explains the regular-use test.
Official source ↗
526 U.S.C. § 280A(c)(5)
Statute (Internal Revenue Code)
Business use of home — deduction limited to income from the business use
“the deductions allowed under this chapter for the taxable year by reason of being attributed to such use shall not exceed the excess of— (A) the”
Limits the deduction to the income from the business use.
Official source ↗
6IRS Pub. 587 (2025), “Using the Simplified Method”
IRS guidance (explanatory, not law)
Home office — simplified method ($5 per square foot, up to 300 square feet)
“In most cases, you will figure your deduction by multiplying $5, the prescribed rate, by the area of your home used for a qualified business use. The area you use to figure”
The $5-per-square-foot simplified method and its 300-square-foot cap.
Official source ↗

Where the answers come from

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A verified library, not the open internet

Every provision is cut word for word from its official source — the U.S. Code on govinfo.gov, the eCFR, and irs.gov — and re-checked against that source so it can never drift. Statutes and regulations are law; IRS publications are explanation, and the answer says which is which.

Retrieval before writing

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Citations it cannot invent

The engine can only point at the provisions it was given. The citation, the title and the link are filled in from the library itself, and a quote is kept only if it matches the official text exactly. When the library can’t support an answer, you’re told that instead of being given one.

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Questions

Is this tax advice?

No. AskTax is tax information and research: it shows you what the law says and how it applies to facts you give it, with the sources. For decisions about your own return, a qualified tax professional can review your full situation.

Where do the answers come from?

From a curated, hand-verified library of official text — statutes from the U.S. Code, Treasury regulations from the eCFR, and IRS publications — each cut verbatim from its official source and re-checked against it. The answer engine can only cite what is in that library.

Can it make up a citation?

It is built so that it can't. The engine may only point at provisions it was given for your question; every citation, title and link you see is filled in from the verified library, never written by the model. If a quote doesn't match the official text word for word, it is replaced with the provision's own opening lines.

What does it cover?

US federal tax for freelancers, contractors, sole proprietors, single-member LLC owners, creators and small business owners: business expenses, home office, equipment, travel, meals, vehicles, recordkeeping, hobby-versus-business, self-employment tax and worker classification. State and local tax are not covered.

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